How are you doing during this time of limited contact with others?
A lot has been happening in the world with COVID-19, and I want to check and see how you are all doing? 😊 If you have a moment, just drop a quick line to say how you are, what you and others are doing to keep positive, and the area you are living in. Take care my friends!
Answers
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We originally got permission to open oour FHC on an appointment-only basis with limited numbers in the FHC at any one time. But changing conditions and better data about this virus and its course, made it clear that we needed to be closed entirely - which began this week. So we've been staying home together (just the two of us) working on various things that have been neglected in and around the house. Our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are all at least 2000 miles away. So you'd think we're feeling isolated and out of touch - yet so far, that's far from the case. There's Facetime and phone calls, and best of all, my wife and I are best friends after 49 years of marriage, and at least mentally feeling more like we did at 25 than nearly three times that age (other than the reality of 8th-decade bodies, LOL! 😊
We made a commitment more than 12 years ago to never miss a night in scripture study together, and the "Come Follow Me" course has been nothing short of amazing in preparing us for what we need now, just over a year after its introduction. We can see the blessings looking backward, even though we could not have foreseen them looking ahead. That has helped us with the frequent prompting both of us have independently had especially the past three months - "Trust Me." That trust has built much more strongly than we realized until this situation, and it's brought wonderful peace even looking objectively at the chaos and tragedy already sweeping the world and the nation. This week's topic (the allegory of the vineyard, master, and servants) has been exceptionally instructive in so many ways, and probably couldn't have come at a better time, given some circumstances we're personally witnessing. We've heeded council about preparedness, been listening to or reading selected conference addresses (including Elder Packer's April 1990 address about Jacob 5 which has interesting implications for today even if the scenario is outwardly different), and of course, putting in more personal effort on our family history now that we've got the time.
In our calling (each of us is a stake T&FH consultant - FHC) we've reached out to a number of people including our ministering families and offered to work with them in FamilySearch using the Consultant Planner (can't remember the new name of it without changing windows). And the stake Primary president has asked for a short video demonstrating the wonderful things available in the "Activities" menu item recently added to FamilySearch. (I've never created such a video - just Powerpoint presentation, so I've got some studying to do.) We did such an activity live in a stake Primary presentation just two weeks ago, and it was a big hit.
I'll do the bi-weekly updates just sent out by FamilySearch Support this morning to FHC leaders, and also periodically call each member of our FHC staff. Just the couple of calls so far have been surprisingly nice - people that never seemed to want to talk very long on the phone beyond "business," are more relaxed and socially interactive. We all need that kind of contact, and this is perhaps a wonderful opportunity to go beyond a couple of lines of grammatically incorrect text messages, trying to call that "communication." We have the potential to really begin connecting again with others in a way we've seen slipping for many years - longer phone calls, written letters, etc., seem a thing of the past. Yet perhaps not.
So for us, we're very surprisingly at peace, and enjoying the peace and quiet of our home and each other, accomplishing things we were "too busy" to do before. This may turn out to be much more of a major blessing than it outwardly appears to be. And perhaps when we connect face to face again with the world, it will be more meaningful and personal.
-- Chris (Georgia, USA)
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Chris, I really appreciate your perspective of making a phone call and reaching out to those we know and associate with. We all need interaction, and while modern technology is absolutely amazing in allowing us to maintain a semblance of normalcy and interaction, it is vital that we take the time to connect in familiar tried and true ways with each other. ☎ ✉️ Thank you for sharing, and glad that you and your wife and family are doing well.
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That's really neat Chris. We are trying to figure things out. This week has been really odd for us - my son got sick, then I got sick, so on top of just the blahs that come with being sick we keep wondering if we got covid. But the symptoms don't match and we're mostly better, so we're reasonably certain we didn't, the dr. said not to worry about testing, just see if you improve and let us know if you don't.
In any case, we're isolating as if we do but mostly sure we don't.The thought of months of this is a little daunting. But I appreciate hearing how you all are faring. How are you bringing joy into your homes? I have 3 boys who are all so very different and who enjoy different things. So that will be a struggle for us over the coming months.
I keep thinking about this group and community connections and how it means something so much different today than it did a couple months ago. It will be so important to keep these connections alive throughout this time. What about that? What can we do in our communities now that we can't get together for a while?
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@Janell Vasquez Our daughter just posted a few things that cracked me up. One says, "If you see my kids locked outside today, mind your own business! We are having a fire drill!" (She's a VERY involved and good mom - don't get the wrong idea.) Perhaps one lesson is, we've got to keep a sense of humor.
Also perhaps some personal motivation would be good each day. I watched two today that are absolutely first class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D5XwrKgynE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc
I'm not always big on motivational speeches, but the first is in fact more than just a doctrinal lesson from a Church source, it's also a motivational lesson. The second is from Admiral McRaven speaking to the graduating class at the University of Texas Austin in 2014. Wow!
Just a couple of things in addition to the previous things such as keeping in touch with others - the Brethren are doing that with us virtually every day, if we'll hear them (Instagram, the Church web page, etc.). We need to make our beds every day (you'll have to watch Admiral McRaven's speech to "get" that one).
Finally, in pilot training, we had two motivational sayings on the wall. First, "If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, we can make a pilot out of you." And look what we became - almost every one of us. There's a gospel message there inside the non-gospel message. The other was the Seven Ps of Flying. And we were drilled on it. It was crude, but it stuck. "Proper Preflight Planning Prevents P___-Poor Performance." (Yes, you can shorten it down to the six Ps. 😎 )
Perhaps spending just a few minutes with basic reminders such as Admiral McRaven's "Make your bed," to the two pilot training items from many years ago for me (and others from each person's life), can be a daily source of re-focusing on the fact that we can get through this, and that as the first video points out, we won't always know what's coming - we just trust and go forward. It seems unlikely that Lehi and Nephi saw the details of the future that was coming - yet they left the known for the entirely unknown, launched out on an intimidating "endless" sea, ended up in a very different climate and geography, and look what we have as a result. I learned 11 years ago that "God doesn't always make everything happen - but nothing happens without his permission. It will be OK." Those early mini-reminders each day may help in wonderful ways as we go forward (personalized for each individual of course).
-- Chris
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My friends and I have teenagers, and have been complaining and urging them to get off of Social Media or their online games and go outside and see real people for years. Now my friend caught her son making secret plans to meet up with his friends and she upset about it.
For over a year the grocery stores have been preparing to get rid of plastic shopping bags and unnecessary plastics, yesterday I went to my very crunchy granola health food stores and now all their muffins are individually wrapped in plastics.
We've come full circle.
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@BJC1234 BJC1234 Thank you for that good chuckle! 😄 It was very much needed!
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Even watching TV shows and movies is a bit odd now, no one on these repeats are socially distancing themselves. It makes the shows look very dated even when there from this year.
At least online genealogy is still safe!
🌎 ❤️
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Thanks for sharing those videos! Very cool. Great ideas. Little reminders every day are really important and valuable.
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